Pratt & Whitney Canada still is not ready at this NBAA to name a customer for its newest engine, the PW800. But the Montreal-based engine maker is ready to provide new technical details and update the progress of developing the 10,000-20,000lb thrust-class engine.
P&WC launched the PW800 in 2008 after Cessna selected the engine to power the Citation Columbus, but the programme was canceled the following year.
Since 2009, P&WC has been running several demonstrators of the core technology, which is derived from the PurePower PW1000G geared turbofan family for the commercial market, says Michael Perodeau, P&WC’s vice-president of corporation aviation and military engines.
Although the PW800 is in the same thrust class as the PW1200G that powers the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, it includes several key differences – most notably the lack of the fan drive gear system that decouples the rotation speeds of the low pressure turbine and the inlet fan in the PW1200G.
“The core [of the PW800] would remain the same and there would be a new low-spool turbine, a new fan and ducting, of course,” Perodeau says. The core comprises the compressor section, the combustor and the turbine stages.
“Typically, when you’re going for a long-range business jet, you optimize around relatively high altitude cruise versus regional and other commercial turbofan engines, which are optimized for take-off climb and lower altitudes and lower speeds,” Perodeau adds.
If selected by an aircraft manufacturer, the PW800 would compete in the same power class as the GE Aviation Passport 20, Rolls-Royce BR725 and Snecma Silvercrest engines.
“I think given the technologies available and the technologies we have chosen, we think that overall we’re going to have a competitive edge over them,” Perodeau says. “But I wouldn’t put numbers to it at this point.”
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Source: Flight Daily News
